(a) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a safety protective cover for socket receptacles, and more particularly, to a safety protective cover having a sliding base capable of vertical and horizontal movements between upper and lower housings of a socket, such that stopping members therein are blocked in receptacles at the upper housing for prohibiting invasions of alien objects and thus preventing accidental electric shocks.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A common wall socket or an extension wire socket is generally provided with at least one set of receptacles, wherein each set of receptacles has two or three receptacles. However, several drawbacks are found after studying the aforesaid prior socket. First of all, the xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d socket lacks protective measures, and accidental electric shocks are repeated occurrences among children caused by curiosity. Secondly, the prior socket is an open structure as described, with conductive straps at an interior thereof mostly being conductive materials such as copper. These conductive materials are often formed with aerugo resulted from humidity for being exposed in air over long periods of time, or accumulated with dust, and hence conductive efficiencies thereof may become affected. Therefore, the prior socket has potential hazards to a certain degree, and can hardly be accounted as an ideal design when put to use. To overcome the aforesaid shortcomings, the inventor provided a structure disclosed by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,088. Referring to FIG. 8, the structure comprises a socket housing having a protective cover D1 capable of elastic horizontal movements; and two stopping members D2 each having an inclined plane and located at a top portion of the protective cover D1, with the two stopping members D2 blocking below receptacles D3. When pins B1 of a plug B are inserted into the receptacles D3, the inclined planes of the two stopping members D2 are simultaneously displaced to further horizontally move the entire protective cover D1, so as to conduct the plug B with conductive straps D4 by completely inserting the plug B into the receptacles D3. When an alien object C is inserted into one of the receptacles D3 as shown in FIG. 9, the alien object C imposes a downward force at one end of the protective cover D1. Leverage is formed from force received at one end of the protective cover D1, and the stopping member D2 at the other end of the protective cover D1 is lifted to block in the receptacle D3. As a result, the protective cover D1 fails to displace horizontally with the protective cover D1 remaining blocked in the receptacles 3, thereby preventing potential hazards by forbidding the alien object C from coming into contact and conducting with the conductive straps D4. This prior invention indeed offers practical excellences. However, for that the two stopping members D2 of the protective cover D1 are located below the two receptacles D3, consumers so happen to notice the two stopping members D2 have inclined planes when observing the receptacles D3 in an inward direction from an exterior of the socket D, and the protective cover D1 is often mistaken to have unqualified assembly by being seemingly slanted. Therefore, purchasing concerns are incurred.
To overcome the aforesaid difficulty, the object of the invention is to provide a safety protective cover for socket receptacles, in that the safety protective cover is capable of preventing alien objects from entering one of the receptacles and offering dust-proof effects. More particularly, upper edges of stopping members of the safety protective cover are flat in shape, and appear as evenly assembled when viewed from an exterior. The stopping members are free from slanting appearances and are prevented from being mistaken as having unqualified assembly, and the socket is provided with enhanced texture overall.
The invention comprises an upper housing, a sliding base, a first elastic member, a second elastic member, and a lower housing. The upper housing has receptacles. The sliding base is disposed below the upper housing; and has pushing members, and stopping members at an upper portion thereof. The first elastic element is accommodated at the sliding base to provide the sliding base with horizontal elastic restoring forces. The second elastic member has elastic terminals that are supported at a lower edge at a middle section of the sliding base to provide the sliding member with vertical elastic restoring forces. The lower housing is joined with the upper housing; and has receptacles, and slide-guide members for producing horizontal movements when coming into contact with the pushing members of the sliding base. When the stopping members of the sliding base are simultaneously pushed away from the receptacles at the upper housing, the sliding base suppresses the second elastic member to move vertically in a downward direction. When the pushing members come into contact with slide-guide inclined planes of the slide-guide members, the sliding base keeps moving to force the stopping members to deviate out of the receptacles at the upper housing. However, when the stopping members of the sliding base are not simultaneously pushed away from the receptacles, the sliding base regards one of the elastic terminals of the second elastic members as a fulcrum, such that the sliding base fails to move horizontally by having the stopping member not being pushed away remain blocked in the located receptacle.